The present invention relates to a tamperproof protective construction for sealing an adjusting member, such as an adjusting screw, or a fitting member, such as a fixing bolt, in order to prevent such a member from being tampered with or interfered with by an unauthorized person. This construction may be applied to an automobile, or the like.
In many machines which are intended to be operated by users who are not qualified to service them, such as automobiles or the like, there are provided adjustment members, such as adjusting screws, which are correctly set to their correct adjustment during manufacture of the machine, but which may subsequently require to be adjusted after variations in the operational characteristics of the machine after a lengthy period of operation thereof. For example, in an automobile, the carburetor or the distributor is typically provided with such adjusting screws. However, a problem has arisen, in that often unauthorized adjustment of such an adjusting member is performed by an unqualified or incompetent person. In such a case, the adjusting member may be adjusted to an improper setting, which may cause malfunctioning of the device to which it is fitted. For example, if a carburetor adjusting screw is improperly interfered with by an unauthorized mechanic, the fuel economy of an automobile to which the carburetor is fitted may be deteriorated, and, further, the exhaust emissions of the automobile may be rendered more noxious, and their content of harmful pollutants may be drastically increased. Further, in an extreme case, the automobile may even not start properly, especially from the cold condition.
A further problem has arisen with regard to certain components of automobiles and other machines, in that, although they are required, by law, to be fitted when the machine is being produced in the factory, some unprincipled users may desire to dispense with these parts, contrary to law. For example, in an automobile, an exhaust gas recirculation system, or a catalytic converter, may be intentionally removed by a user of the automobile, in order to increase its fuel economy, its power output performance, or its drivability. This, of course, will greatly deteriorate the quality of the exhaust emissions of the automobile, and accordingly undesirable pollution of the environment will be caused. This has become a serious problem in some areas of the United States.
A similar problem with automobiles has arisen with regard to the provision of narrow and restricted orifices for introducing fuel into the fuel tank. Modern automobiles are designed to be operated with lead free gasoline, and, accordingly, the orifice to the fuel tank of a modern automobile is made rather restricted, so as to cooperate with the small delivery nozzle of a lead free gasoline dispensing pump. A normal pump for dispensing leaded gasoline, on the other hand, has a large delivery nozzle which cannot be suitably cooperated with such a narrow fuel tank orifice in order to provide fuel to the fuel tank of such a vehicle. Thereby, it is ensured that leaded gasoline can not be provided to the fuel tank of a vehicle designed to operate on lead free gasoline, and this ensures that the catalytic converter fitted to such a modern automobile should not be poisoned by the action of lead contained in leaded gasoline. This poisoning occurs quickly, if leaded gasoline is supplied to such a vehicle, even in a small amount. However, in order to improve the performance of such an automobile designed to operate on lead free gasoline, many automobile owners have made a practice of converting the narrow orifices of their fuel tanks of their automobiles into larger orifices, by removing, in an unauthorized and illegal fashion, the fuel feed pipe to the fuel tank of their automobile, and by replacing it with a fuel feed pipe of larger size. Thereby, legal regulations have been circumvented.